Entry 22: In Which We Geek Out A Little Bit.

Here is a totally awesome link:

http://kokogiak.com/solarsystembodieslargerthan200miles.html

This lines up all the bodies in the solar system according to size. It's a superb visual aid, especially for people like me who have a hard time with scale. I can never get a good handle on relative size from looking at the numbers; this picture makes it easy. And it's pretty, too!

The effect as you scroll sideways across the page is quite impressive, and in some cases surprising. For instance, I had no idea Titan and Ganymede were that big.

It also nicely illustrates the whole Pluto/planet/dwarf planet/TNO controversy. Again, from reading articles and looking at the numbers, I didn't quite understand the argument, but the picture shows with perfect clarity why it's sketchy to class Pluto along with the other planets. It also explains why, if want you call Pluto a planet, you absolutely have to call Eris a planet as well. (Though personally I think Ceres is stretching it a bit.)

So we no longer have nine planets in the solar system. We either have eight if you drop Pluto or ten if you add Eris (or eleven, I guess, if you take Ceres as well). Which means the old mnemonics for remembering the order no longer apply. "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles" is sadly out.

Any ideas for new mnemonics?

If you choose to drop Pluto, the order would be: M V E M J S U N.

If you prefer to keep Pluto, which means you have to add Eris and probably Ceres, the order would be: M V E M C J S U N P E.

Come on, I'll bet you can think of some good ones......

Entry 21: In Which We Are In A Hurry, But Can't Resist Typing For Two Minutes Anyway

Good morning blog! Just wanted to spin by and say that I promise I haven't forgotten you! Really, I haven't!

(Just between you and me, readers, I had in fact forgotten about it entirely. Shh. Don't tell the blog!)

To keep you all semi-amused while I run off to another fabulous day at school, here is a picture of the pond-slash-lake thing in the Public Gardens (too big to be a pond, too small to be a lake. Is there a word for that?) that I took back in late January during our uber-cold spell. It was totally frozen over. There were some people playing ice-hockey, some people sliding around on the ice and falling down, a poor dog that didn't know quite what to think of it all, and several people who, in typical Bostonian style, just walked casually across the ice as if they were crossing the street. "Beautiful frozen pond in lovely scenic park, meh. Been there, seen that." Some people are just not impressed by anything.

The pond-slash lake looks much, much different now; I'll post pix of it some time in the near future for comparison.

Entry 20: In Which We Have Our Minds Boggled Just A Little

Follow this link to see the most beautiful picture ever (that I've seen, anyway) taken with an SEM. Boggles the mind....

Entry 19: In Which We Speak Math-ese and Get A Little Flaky

I spent all of Tuesday and half of Wednesday working on the results section of my thesis and am now up to my ears in the discussion section. I need to take a little break from all this writing.... wait, maybe blogging isn't the best way to spend my break.... ah well, here goes anyway.

Typically the results section is extremely technical, just spitting out the data in a rather raw format. Then in the discussion section you repeat all the same information, but in pretty language and with lots of explanation about what it means and why it matters.

Results are reported in their own sort of bizarre dialect that blends English with, I don't know, Math-ese. So I spent all day Tuesday writing crazy sentences like:

"A significant main effect for time was found (Wilks’ Lambda=.902, F(1, 188)=20.399, p<.0005, multivariate eta squared=.098), but the interaction effect for time and labtype was not significant (Wilks’ Lambda=.997, F(1, 188)=.492, p=.484)."

Then I would read them over and blink a few times, amazed that I could understand, let alone write, something that disgustingly technical.

Writing the discussion section now really does feel like translating from a foreign language, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than I enjoyed writing the results.

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In other news, while I am still on target to finish the actual thesis by April 13, I may not be able to defend and get everything officially signed off by then. My advisor and I decided this morning that it would be better to have the thesis bound a few weeks late than to cut corners and try to push everything through quickly.

A few extra weeks means that a) I do not have to drive myself completely insane trying to finish in the next three weeks, b) I do not have to rush my committee members in their review of the paper, which would probably make them cranky, c) I can still leave school at the end of the semester, and d) I will not officially receive my degree until August. I won't really be needing it over the summer anyway, so I think it's an acceptable delay. And it's only a delay on paper; I'll still be finished with school at exactly the same time.

I was starting to get a little panicky, and was relieved to hear my advisor make this suggestion. I feel a little flaky pushing my degree date back for the second time, but this time it wasn't my idea, and it does seem to be the most rational solution.

Already I can feel the weight lifting off of me.... I'm still going to finish as quickly as possible, but I can now afford to do a few other things like sleep, cook nice meals, and maybe even go to a movie once in while. Ahhhhh..... happy Sarah. Flaky Sarah, maybe, but at least I'm a happy flaky Sarah.

Entry 18: In Which It's A Good Thing We Are Not Superstitious

So yesterday I "e-filed" my tax thingies. And today I was notified that my thingies had been officially accepted at 06:06:06 p.m.

Hmm. Not sure what to do with that information.

Seriously, those numbers follow me everywhere. Even at school: my office extension is 7-6663.

Creepy.

In other not entirely unrelated news, I learned a new word today: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. That one might come in handy....

Entry 17: In Which Everything Turns Green

Well! Been offline for awhile, haven't I? I spent the week being sick, and will now spend the next week (which happens to be spring break) catching up on all the work I've fallen miles behind on (er, on which I've fallen miles behind?). Which means minimal time for blogging, of course.

We had a lovely Nor'Easter last night (just in time for spring break; mother nature has a clever sense of humor!). Actually, I guess it's still going on, only it's switched over to mostly rain now. As it falls on top of the snow, the rain has nowhere to go, so it's all puddly and slushy out there. Which will be an issue when temperatures drop back below freezing this evening. Ice everywhere! (Why yes, I have been watching weather reports on T.V. all morning, how could you tell?) I'm waiting to find out whether I'll have to work tonight. If the roads are too dangerous they won't have us come in.

In the meantime, I have a long to-do list to get to. It actually feels really good to get back to doing things after a long week of doing nothing. Really, all I did this week was teach two classes and sleep. Maybe the break was good; I'm actually eager to settle down and get some good writing done.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I'm temporarily turning the blog green. Just so, you know, nobody decides to pinch it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

heh, knew that would come in handy eventually...

Entry 16: In Which We Continue To Goof Around

Get Your Monster Name

Hee hee. So that's what my name means. Honsetly, I've suspected it all along.

Follow the link to decode your own name. If you get something good, post it in the comments.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going outside to enjoy the sunshine. We are in the 40's today, and it's unbelievable how summery that feels after all these weeks of freezing cold. Ciao!

Entry 15: In Which We Goof Around A Little

So today I've decided to learn how to do this html stuff. Not anything advanced, obviously, just a little silly formatting.

Why? Well..... why not??

(And no, this is not procrastination or work-avoidance. I'm trying this new thing where I stop working after eight hours. Unless, you know, I can't. But tonight I can; tomorrow's Friday, and I have all morning free to work on stuff, and only a TA meeting in the afternoon.)

Without further ado, I will try out some of these tag thingies on the text from yesterday's entry. This is likely to bore you all, but it's entertaining me, and that's what matters, riiiight?

So one of my students called me "dude" today.

(hee, this is fun)

I was up at the whiteboard(getting carried away as usual with the multicolored markers),

and he wanted to know if he could get points for something,

so he calls across the room "Hey dude, can I do..." whatever it was.Then he goes, "Whoa, I just called you dude!"

Yeah, maybe my classroom management is getting a little too casual.

and once more:

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So one of my students called me "dude" today. I was up at the whiteboard(getting carried away as usual with the multicolored markers), and he wanted to know _{if he could get points for something,} so he calls across the room "Hey dude, can I do..." whatever it was.^{Then he goes, "Whoa, I just called you dude!} "Yeah, maybe my classroom management is getting a little too casual.

fun!

fun!